Comments on: Unrewarded talent

By: sigmundleominster

sigmundleominster — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:22:10 +0000

Yes, the “immersion” vs “augmentation” thing probably plays a big role here. If there isn’t a “quiz” out there already to determine “How Immersed Are YOU In Your Second Life?” then there should be! I’d be up for a little brainstorming to create such a quiz

For what it’s worth, I have typically used the labels “escape” vs “extension” for the two ends of the immersion spectrum. However, that clearly says more about ME than about the propriety of the nomenclature!

By: johnny4sls

johnny4sls — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:34:00 +0000

I think that this discussion is the latest chapter in the “Immersion” vs “Augmentation” debate. When I first signed up for SL I leaned towards the augmentation camp, but my experience on the grid in the last couple of years has more or less convinced me that an immersive viewpoint is the only one that makes any sense. “Work” in the virtual world can be a fullfilling experience in terms of creative expression and social interaction, but as soon as you start to look at it from a real-world perspective it can only become devalued. There is no way that an occupation that pays a few cents an hour can be considered a “job” in any real sense, but if you remain within the confines of the role-play you can keep the sense of achievement that goes with being a successful virtual designer, artist, or whatever, without feeling that you have to compare yourself to the real-world equivalent, a comparison which is bound to be unflattering.

By: sigmundleominster

sigmundleominster — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:56:03 +0000

When you day “only a very few people are earning more than a pittance from virtual commerce,” I suggest that this is actually true if you take the word “virtual” and replace it with “world.” And I’d hazard a guess that if you could get the actual data about who’s earning what (which I think will be difficult because not everyone wants to say what they earn in Second Life) you’d find a distribution similar to the real world – a few make a lot.

There’s two points I’d like to contribute to the discussion. The first is that the Second Life economy has similar characteristics to the real world and goods follow the regular laws of supply and demand. Folks make stuff; folks buy stuff – or not. Those who make stuff that people want and will pay for survive to continue; those who make stuff folks don’t want or won’t pay for go to the wall. Or change their business model.

This is just regular market forces, albeit in a virtual environment. I don’t know if you checked out my article for SLentrepreneur Magazine, What Drives the Purchasing of Virtual Goods, but there’s a nice list of reasons why folks buy virtual goods based on some research by Vili Lehdonvirta, which turns out to be little different from real world buying preferences.

The second point is that “value” is always in the eye of the beholder. The problem that hits most folks within the Second Life environment relates to the psychological notion of “anchoring.” As you will be aware (but some of your readers may not be familiar with the jargon) we make comparisons based on our own cognitive structures that act as an “anchor.” In the UK, if you drink at 18, you are considered a regular person; if you do the same in the US, you are a criminal and have to undergo counseling for alcohol abuse. Wach country has a different anchor point.

This extends to virtual goods both within and between worlds. On the “between worlds” side, there’s the perception that anyone who would spend hours creating shirts that sell for 30 cents would have to be crazy, even if they took home $50 US per month. But that judgment is colored by the anchor of price/earnings in the real world. The SL resident who makes $100 that in turn covers tier fees, rentals, in-world spending AND leaves a little for the PayPal account may well see lots of “value” in what they do.

So, the talk about “entitlement” is a red herring in that no-one is actually
“entitled” to anything – in the real or virtual world! It’s not enough to make “good clothes” or even spectacular ones; unfortunately the market will decide what it’s worth. This is the same phenomenon I see with self-published writers (I do some work review manuscript submissions for a publishing company) – they think that because they have written a novel, they should be published. And then if the publishers cannot “recognize their talent,” they turn to self publishing. They assume “entitlement” but neither have it nor deserve it.

OK, just wanted to add to the discussion